Protecting the Heart.pt 2

Matters of the Heart, Part 4 Protecting the Heart

Watch over your heart with all diligence,

 for from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23).

Last week, we learned to . . .

This week, we should learn to protect our hearts against . . .

                        Potential rivals for our devotion.

A lawyer asked Jesus a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment (Matthew 22:35-38).”

(King Asa, Baasha, Ben Hadad, Prophet Hanani, 2 Chron.16:9)For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

To protect our hearts, we should understand . . .

The tendency.

If not careful, the heart can subtly become divided within.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).

The pattern.

Something or someone . . .

            Distracts us.

            Draws us aside.

Proverbs 7:6-27 For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice, And I saw among the naive, And discerned among the youths a young man lacking sense, passing through the street near her corner; and he takes the way to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. And behold, a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. She is boisterous and rebellious, Her feet do not remain at home; She is now in the streets, now in the squares, And lurks by every corner. So she seizes him and kisses him and with a brazen face she says to him: “I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. . . . 21 With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool . . . (24)Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths. For many are the victims she has cast down, and numerous are all her slain.

            Divides the heart.        

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me?” (Jg. 16:15)

The safeguards

            A daily appraisal.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also . . . No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other (Matthew 6:19-21, 24).

            A daily renewal.